Matt LaFleur sees ‘night and day' shift in Jordan Love's vocal leadership
"I think the next step is just to continue to evolve as a vocal leader," LaFleur said back in January. "That just comes with the position naturally. I think he's taken steps to get there, but I think he can really demand a lot because the locker room respects him."
Fast forward over six months, and it sounds like Love really took his head coach's challenge to heart. LaFleur told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that he has seen a significant difference in his vocal leadership compared to last year.
"Night and day," LaFleur told Fowler. "Even from last year, and I thought he took a big jump last year. Way more presence. As the kids say, he's got aura."
Since Love arrived in Green Bay in 2020, he has become a core member of the locker room. As LaFleur mentioned, that comes with the territory when you're named the franchise quarterback, but Love has genuinely earned the respect of his teammates.
But after two straight seasons that ended with premature exits from the playoffs, that respect needs to turn into results. Soon. Entering the 2025 season, increasing the sense of urgency and accountability has been a major point of emphasis.
At the start of training camp, Josh Jacobs talked about the improvement in intensity compared to last year and discussed how his role as a leader sometimes requires him to ruffle feathers.
"One thing about being a leader, it's not always easy, and it's not always doing what's comfortable," he said. "Sometimes you got to ruffle feathers, sometimes you got to hold people accountable. That's something I try to do, I try to say the things that people are afraid to say."
This is also something LaFleur wanted to see out of Love.
"(His teammates) all respect him, but when things aren't quite right, I think he can voice that as well, when guys aren't doing quite what they are supposed to be doing," said LaFleur. "He's one of the guys I talk to about that. It just means more when it comes from your quarterback than from me or one of our other coaches."
While Love will look to hold guys accountable this season, how far the Packers go will depend heavily on how well he plays. With just over a month until the season opener, Love has looked sharp in camp.
"You can see the urgency he's playing with right now," LaFleur said. "A lot of times in this [era], you're going to go as far as your quarterback goes. But it does take everybody around him playing at a high level."
Green Bay hopes to distinguish itself as a legit Super Bowl contender in 2025, but to do so, Love will need his arm to be as sharp as his voice and his supporting cast to follow his lead.
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